


Lap’s EGS Flash Fiction Week 2020

by Laparoscopic



Category: El Goonish Shive
Genre: EGS Flash Fiction Week 2020, F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, Other, fluff and nonsense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:08:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26332405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laparoscopic/pseuds/Laparoscopic
Summary: Thanks to Zee McZed for organizing this year's Flash Fic week. This year is based on randomly generated pairs and situations; see rules onReddit.
Relationships: Ashley/Elliot Dunkel, Diane/Lucy, Luke/Justin Tolkiberry, Sarah Brown/Grace Sciuridae/Tedd Verres
Comments: 18
Kudos: 32





	1. A Friendly Wager

**Author's Note:**

> First story generated: Liz & Ashley making a friendly wager.

“I am not!” said Ashley, annoyed.

“You are too,” countered Liz.

Ashley frowned at her friend. “I’m not even…” She glanced around the school cafeteria, making sure no one was within ear-shot. She hissed quietly, “I’m not even a virgin anymore, so how could you claim I’m still a ‘blushing virgin’?”

Liz snorted. “It’s not just about the state of your hymen, ya know. You still blush as easily as you did when you first discovered what slash-fic was.”

“I was eleven! Of course I blushed!”

“Yeah, and you still blush as easily as a Catholic school girl in a porn shop.”

Ashley snickered, her annoyance diminished by Liz’s turn of phrase. “I’ll have you know, I’m _much_ more worldly these days.”

“Yeah, right. Blushing virgin,” muttered Liz, smirking. 

“Hmph.” Ashley crossed her arms and tried to look offended. 

“Tell you what,” Liz offered. “I’ll bet you five bucks you can’t go five minutes without blushing.”

“Five minutes?” Ashely gave Liz a quizzical look, then shrugged. “Sure. I could use five bucks.”

“But if you blush, you owe _me_ five bucks.”

“Yeah, I got it.” Ashley pulled out her phone and set a five minute timer. “Get your wallet ready.”

Liz smiled sweetly. “Oh, did I mention, I saw Elliot a few days ago?”

“No. What of it?” Ashley asked warily.

“It was at the grocery store. He was shopping for English cucumbers. And looking very, ah…uncomfortable while doing so.” Liz smirked. “It seemed like it was a little… _hard_ for him to make a purchase.”

Ashley felt her face turn bright cherry red, as she recalled her boyfriend had brought her her favorite vegetable dildo for play time last weekend. “You!” she squeaked, “You…you…you… _Aaarrgh!”_

“That’ll be five dollars, please,” said Liz smugly. 


	2. Terror Firma

It had been several weeks since Luke and Justin had managed to go out on a date. Given that they’d only been dating for two months, that was quite a large break. Luke was beginning to get nervous about that fact when finally their stars aligned, and they managed to both have a Saturday free at the same time.

After some discussion, they decided to get the heck out of Dodge, or at least Moperville, and spend the day in the City. They took the train into Chicago and wandered Michigan Avenue for a while, then spent a pleasant afternoon in the Museum of Contemporary Art. 

“What do you want to do next?” Luke asked as they exited the museum into the chilly late afternoon air.

“Have you ever been to the top of the Hancock building?” The huge skyscraper was only a couple of blocks away.

Luke felt his stomach clench a little at the question, and he replied, “No.”

Justin grinned at him. “Wanna go up now? My mom got a couple of free tickets in a raffle a few months ago, and said she was never going to use them. I bet the view is _great_ at sunset. Kinda romantic.” His grin shifted to a warmer smile as he looked down at Luke.

Luke tried to think of a reason not to, but came up blank. Justin’s smile short-circuited his brain a little, making him want to say yes to whatever he suggested. “Sure. Why not.” He hoped that the quaver in his voice was just his imagination. In any event, Justin didn’t seem to notice it.

There isn’t too much of a line, and they got into the express elevator to the 94th floor with just two other people, a man and a woman. Luke had never regretted being closeted more than at that moment, because what he wanted more than anything was to latch onto Justin and clutch him tightly. Instead, he gave Justin a wavering smile. 

Justin cocked his head and frowned. “You okay, dude?”

“Y-yeah. I’m fine.”

Justin looked dubious. “Really?”

“Yeah. I mean, I just, uh…I just don’t like elevators much.”

“ _Oh_. Why didn’t you say something?” Justin asked, just as the doors closed. 

A motherly looking woman standing next to them said, “Don’t worry, the express elevator only takes half a minute to get to the top. It won’t be too long.”

Luke tried to smile back at her. “Thanks.”

The elevator began to move, accelerating upwards for a few seconds—and then it stopped with a lurch.

Luke screamed. 

It was a short scream, cut off quickly, but he closed his eyes in embarrassment. The fact that the two other people had yelped at the sudden stop didn’t make him feel any better. He felt Justin’s hand on his shoulder. “We’re okay, dude.”

“Yeah…for _now_ ,” Luke muttered. He wasn’t sure if the shuddering he felt was himself, or the elevator shaking. 

A speaker in the wall crackled, then a gruff man’s voice said, “Uh, sorry, folks, we’re just…the safeties cut in and stopped you. Don’t worry, you’re all safe, that’s what the safeties are _for_ , just, uh, give us a minute to sort things out.” Someone in the background said something incomprehensible, and the man continued, “Yah. We’ll get you out of there shortly.” And the speaker clicked off.

Luke leaned back against the wall behind him and slid down until he was sitting on the floor. He wrapped his arms around his legs and lowered his head. “I lied,” he mumbled into his knees. “I don’t dislike elevators—I _hate_ them.”

He heard Justin sitting down next to him, and then he said, “I’m sorry, why didn’t you say something earlier? We didn’t have to do this.”

Luke smiled into his knees. “Well, you seemed kinda excited about the view. And it’s only a little while. I figured I could grit my teeth and get through it.” He shuddered, and this time it was definitely himself shaking, not the elevator. “Or so I thought.”

“Ah, hell…” said Justin softly, and Luke could hear the regret and guilt in his voice. He lifted his head and looked over at Justin. “I’m so sorry,” Justin continued.

“It’s not your fault. It’s not like you planned this breakdown.”

Justin grinned. “How do you know? ‘Romantic date scenario number twenty-three: Getting trapped together in an elevator.’”

The man in the business suit snorted. “I think that would be further down the list.”

“A _lot_ further,” agreed the motherly woman.

Luke twitched a little at Justin referring to them dating, but no one seemed to mind. 

“I’m sure dozens of people are frantically working to get us out of here as soon as possible,” Justin said soothingly. He laid a consoling hand on Luke’s shoulder. 

“Yeah.” Justin’s hand felt nice. Solid and reassuring. _Oh, to hell with it_ , Luke thought. No one had said a word about them dating, so he leaned his head over and rested it on Justin’s hand. 

“What bugs you so much about elevators?” asked Justin.

Luke sighed. “I just…hate being out of control. It’s the same reason I hate to fly, or why I always want to be the driver when we go out.”

“Oh. Well, that explains some—“ Justin cut himself off, suddenly blushing a little.

Luke blushed too, intuiting what Justin wasn’t saying. “Uh. Yeah.”

The speaker crackled on again. “Well, folks, the good news is, the problem was just a faulty switch which tripped a circuit breaker. There’s no problems with the cables or safety systems, you’re in no danger at all. Uh, the bad news is, it’ll take us a while to change out the switch and test it before we can get you moving again.”

“How long?” asked the man in a business suit. “I have a meeting at the restaurant in ten minutes.”

“I’m afraid it’ll be longer than that. Maybe a half an hour?”

Luke whimpered quietly. Justin squeezed his shoulder again.

“Can’t you just open the doors from the outside?” asked the woman. 

“You’re on the express elevator,” explained the disembodied voice. “There are no doors in the elevator shaft between ground level and the 94th floor.”

Luke took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. He tuned out the man and woman, who were talking to the service technician on the speaker. “I’m sorry I’m like this,” he muttered miserably to Justin.

“What? You’ve got nothing to apologize for. We all have things we don’t like. Or are afraid of.”

“Pfft. I doubt that. You seem like you’re not afraid of anything. Heck, you punted a fire monster into the river.”

Justin hesitated a moment, then admitted, “I scream like a six-year-old girl at the sight of centipedes.”

Luke choked back a laugh. “You’re kidding.”

“Nope. They freak me right out. Spiders are cool, but anything with more than eight legs is an abomination.”

“What about roly-polies?”

“Eh?”

“They’ve got more than eight legs.”

“They _do?_ Huh. I never noticed. I guess because I only ever see them curled up in a ball.” Justin was quiet a moment, then said, “Okay, they get a pass.”

“Because they’re cute?”

“Yup.”

Luke chuckled, glad to be distracted from his fears. “So, if you ever had to battle the Brand New Day version of Doc Ock, with eight mechanical arms plus human arms and legs, you’d flee?”

“I would give a very manly six-year-old-girl scream, then kick him into the river,” Justin said loftily. 

Luke laughed. Justin grinned, then slipped an arm around his shoulders. Luke tensed at that, shooting a glance at the other two occupants of the elevator car. The woman just smiled at them and looked away. The businessman was too busy arguing with the service technician about his meeting to notice. Luke sighed, and relaxed into Justin’s embrace. “Thanks,” he said softly.

“No problem.”

“But maybe for our next date, we can stay safe on terra firma?”

“The firma the better,” Justin agreed solemnly.

Luke groaned. "What did I ever do to deserve that?" 

Justin grinned. "Too late. You're stuck with me now."

Luke smiled, his fears and worries fading in the presence of Justin's warmth. "Yeah. I sure am."


	3. Home Alone

Sarah opened the front door to let Grace in. “Hey, love,” she said with a smile. Closing the door, she pulled Grace close for a kiss.

Grace happily reciprocated, lingering for a moment on her girlfriend’s lips. Pulling apart, she asked, “I take it your parents aren’t home? Or have you finally told them about you, me, and Tedd?”

Sarah snorted. “Hardly. They’re at a barbecue picnic with some friends. They said they’d be back by dinner. Maybe.”

Grace’s eyes lit up. “So…we’re home alone for the day?”

Sarah felt her heart rate pick up a little at the gleam in Grace’s lovely green eyes. “Yes…”

“Excellent! You know what _that_ means.”

Sarah felt a blush slowly rising. “What?”

“We can spend all day eating popcorn and watching _Stephen Galaxy_ without anyone bugging us to do homework!”

Sarah blinked. “Whuh?”

“Yeah!” Grace grabbed her hand and started dragging her to the kitchen. “Come on, where do you keep the popcorn?” 

Sarah stumbled along after her girlfriend, too besotted by Grace’s happy smile to think of contradicting her. _Well, I **do** need to catch up on this season…_ she thought ruefully. “In the cabinet to the left of the sink.” 

“Can we put butter on it?” asked Grace hopefully.

Sarah laughed. “Sure, sweetie. Whatever you want.”


	4. Passing Notes

Susan: Really? 

Rhoda: why not?

Susan: Anyone over the age of five should be able to force all games of tic-tac-toe into a draw.

Susan: Better. E ?

Susan: T ?

Susan: A ?

Susan: O ?

Susan: I ?

Susan: N ?

Susan:Oh, wait, I’m forgetting who I'm playing with. M ? 

Susan: Got it. G and C.

Rhoda: 😀

Rhoda: do you have any  ⬛︎⬛︎⬛︎⬛︎⬛︎⬛︎ that might pass the time?

Susan: You probably shouldn’t mention those kinds of things in writing.

Rhoda: what, we can’t work on our D&D campaign in class?

Susan: … Okay. Anyway, none of my spells could be used for anything other than creating panic or chaos. Summoning a sword or fairy doll might be overly flashy.

Rhoda: might be preferable to Mr. G’s droning

Susan: Don’t tempt me.

What about you? Any useful spells?

Rhoda: I’ve been playing a game Grace taught me—change blindness

Susan: ?

Rhoda: changing myself so slowly that no one notices.

Susan: WTH?! When did you get so big?

Rhoda: hee hee. I’ve been growing about a quarter of an inch every minute or so

Susan: Good thing Camila is asleep, or she might notice she can’t see over your head anymore. 

Looks like Raj has at least noticed the, ah, horizontal enlargement.

Rhoda: no, Raj always stares at my boobs. Thinks he’s being subtle about it 😠

Susan: Yuck.

Rhoda: I’d like to shrink certain parts of HIS anatomy. He’d need a microscope…

Susan: Really? Can you target individual areas like that?

Rhoda: no unfortunately

Susan: Alas.

Rhoda: omg, it’s only 10:10. We’ve got 30 more minutes of this to endure!!!!!!!

Susan: Mr. G does have a talent for droning on.

Rhoda: I wonder if it’s true that he taught our grandparents

Susan: Wouldn’t surprise me. I think he’s just marking time until retirement at this point.

Rhoda: he could make a sex ed class sound boring

SHHHH!

Susan: Then don’t make me laugh out loud in class.

Rhoda: don’t worry, he’s so hard of hearing you’d need to be louder than that

Susan: Oh god, now you’ve got me imagining it: “So, uh, you take the penis, tab A, and insert it into the, er, um, vagina, slot B…”

Rhoda: 🤣

but what if you’re working with two slot B’s?

Susan: I think you might break his mind if you brought that up in class.

Rhoda: Lucy did that once

Susan: ?? Broke Mr. G’s mind?

Rhoda: no, during sex ed in grade 7 when the teacher was blushingly admonishing us that ~~abstainence~~ abstinence was the only sure-fire method of contraception, Lucy said “Unless I only do it with another girl.”

Susan: I can’t believe you never picked up on her orientation until recently.

Rhoda: in hindsight that WAS a pretty big clue. I thought the teacher was going to have a stroke, trying to calm the class down after that

Susan: Wish I had been there. Our class was boring.

Rhoda: did you ever see that pamphlet that went around the school after that, correcting all the bs that they taught us?

Susan: Yes.

Rhoda: someone kept posting them on bulletin boards & leaving stacks of em in the girls rooms. Honestly, those things were a godsend. Drove the teachers nuts trying to track down where they came from

I wonder if they ever caught who did it

Susan: No. They didn’t.

Rhoda: how do you know?

Susan: Er. *Cough*

Rhoda: IT WAS YOU???!!!

Susan: Not so loud!

Rhoda: haha. But seriously, you did that?

Susan: With some help from Sarah. She has some good books.

Rhoda: ok. Wow. Thank you. & I’ll have to thank Sarah next time I see her 

Susan: You’re welcome. 

Rhoda: ugh. 20 more minutes. Shoot me NOW

Susan: You’re not getting out of it that easily.

Rhoda: another round of hangman?

Susan: Sure. Why not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After the fact, I realized (was reminded, thanks Scotty) that Rhoda & Susan go to different schools. I was just going with what the dice told me, assuming that the dice would not lie to me. :-P


	5. The Terminal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rolled 17 11 15: Lucy & Sam, waiting for someone at the airport.

“Yeah…that’s okay, Dad, it’s not like you can control the weather…yeah, I’ll wait, it’s easier than driving back and forth. Okay. Uh-huh. See you in a couple of hours.”

Sam hung up his phone with a sigh and started his car. He had been sitting in the cellphone lot at O’Hare airport, waiting to pick up his father, but the flight had been delayed. Given the weather, and the pain of driving in sleet on the highway, Sam decided it was easier to wait in the airport. He pulled out of the waiting area and made his way to the parking garage.

Walking into the terminal, he sighed in relief at the warmth. He unzipped his jacket, grimacing as it swung open and revealed his breasts. Since he was picking up his father, he needed to present as female, which he hated. _But not only would I need to tell him I’m trans, I’d need to tell him about magic sex changes. And I’m not sure he’s ready for such a double-whammy._

He located the baggage claim where his father’s bag would be coming in, and looked around for a place to sit. It seemed like he wasn’t the only person waiting for delayed flights; almost all of the seats were taken. The only immediately obvious open seat was next to an impressively Amazonian looking woman, who had her phone in one hand and her other arm stretched across the back of an empty seat. Sam hesitated a moment, then shrugged to himself. It was worth a try.

“Excuse me, is that seat taken?” he asked.

The woman looked up at him, and arched an eyebrow. “Not yet. You want it?”

“Um. Sure.”

The woman nodded, and pulled her arm into her own personal space. Sam sat down in with a grunt of, “Thanks.” He glanced sideways at the woman. She had lovely long two-toned hair, and was impressively built. Tall and muscular looking, with beautifully large breasts. He wondered both what it would be like to cuddle up to that Amazonian build, and how he would have coped with binding himself if he were similarly built.

“You jealous, or gay?” the woman asked drily.

“Pardon?” Sam realized he’d been staring, and he snapped his gaze up to her face, blushing.

“Most women don’t usually get so distracted by my boobs.”

“I’m not a woman,” Sam said reflexively, then grimaced, remembering that he looked female at the moment.

The Amazon arched an eyebrow at him, then she reached over and poked the side of his breast. “Pretty large pecs you got there.”

“Ouch! Do you _mind?_ ” Sam shied back. 

“Sorry. Didn’t think I poked _that_ hard.”

“Most people don’t poke _at all_ ,” Sam groused. He rubbed at the offended spot. “My boobs get tender before my period,” he muttered.

“Not a woman?”

Sam glared at her. “I’m trans.”

“Ohhh.” Understanding bloomed on the tall woman’s face. “Sorry, dude. Didn’t mean to get all up in your space.”

“It’s all right,” Sam said, feeling slightly mollified by that “dude.”

She glanced around the baggage claim area, and said, “Given that you’re not exactly dressing the part at the mo, I’d guess you’re picking up a family member who doesn’t know?”

Sam stared back, startled by that astute observation. “Uh. Yeah. My dad.”

She nodded, looking sympathetic. “Being in the closet sucks,” she said. “I still haven’t told my folks I’m gay.”

“You’re in the closet?” Sam blurted, startled.

She glowered at him. “What’s _that_ supposed to mean?”

“Uh, nothing, it’s just, uh, well…” He grimaced. “I dunno, you set off my gaydar pretty hard.”

“Yeah, well, fortunately, my parents’ ‘gaydar’ isn’t that good. And up until a month ago I only dated boys anyway.”

“That sounds…unpleasant.”

“Truth. But it was worth it for who I went on double dates with.” A smile softened her face, making her look less intimidating. “Eventually, we figured out it was easier to just date each other, and cut the boys out of the equation altogether.”

Sam laughed. “Nice.”

“Yeah. It really is.” Her expression grew vague for a moment, as if she were remembering something, then she shook her head and focused back on Sam. “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“You dating anyone?”

“Yeah. Kinda. Not very seriously.”

“They know you’re trans?”

Sam grimaced. “No. That’s why it’s not very serious yet.”

“Ah. Tricky, that.” She glanced down at Sam’s chest. “You’re not as big as me, but still, binding must be a pain.”

“Oh, yeah.” Well, it _had_ been, before Sam had somehow gotten magic that allowed him to change his body to match his actual gender. 

“So, do you think they’d react poorly to knowing you’re trans?”

Sam hesitated, considering. “No, actually. She’s pretty cool. I don’t _think_ it would faze her.”

“Then why not tell her?”

Sam wasn’t quite sure why he was talking about such intimate things with this total stranger, but maybe it was _because_ she was a stranger that it was easy to talk to her. And she was gay, so she knew something about being on the social outskirts of society.

And she’d called him dude. That counted for something.

“Because…I’m still figuring out what it means for me to be a guy. I wanna work out what it means to me, myself, before I start getting tied up in a couple relationship. I’ve only realized that I was trans in the past year or so. Before that, I thought I was just a lesbian.”

“ _‘Just,’_ ” said the lesbian sitting next to him drily. 

Sam waved a hand. “I mean, not to downplay your issues with your family, but I think it’s easier to come out as gay than as trans. I survived _that_ coming out with my family. Eventually. I’m not sure how well they’ll cope with the next coming out.”

“Hmm. Well, I’m not gonna play ‘My oppression is worse than yours,’ but I’ll note that everyone’s family situation is different.”

“Yeah. Sorry.”

“Nothing to be sorry for, dude. I’ll cope with my folks in my own time.”

“I hope it goes well.”

She grinned. “Thanks. I think it’ll go okay, actually. Fortunately, my folks really like Diane.”

“Your girlfriend?”

“Yeah.” The soft, happy smile returned to her face for a moment. “That’s who _I’m_ waiting for here. She wants to lay a bit more groundwork with her family before we come out. We figure we need to do it at the same time, since our parents know each other.”

“That…sounds complicated.”

“Yeah.” She sighed. “Gods, I wish this wasn’t an issue. I wish I could just say, ‘Hey, Mútti and Vati, I’m gay,’ and they’d be all like, ‘That’s nice, dear.’”

“Mútti and Vati?”

“My family is from Germany.”

“Oh.”

“Lucy!”

The woman’s head snapped up, and she looked around. Sam looked too, and saw a slim blonde woman heading their way, a huge smile on her face. “Diane!” She leapt to her feet, and they met a few feet away from Sam and embraced. They only exchanged a quick discreet kiss, but they held onto one another for a long time.

“Oh, I’ve missed you,” said the one that Sam assumed was Diane.

“Me too,” said (presumably) Lucy. 

“Thanks for waiting.”

“For you? Any time.” Sam felt a small pang of envy for the closeness the two women seemed to share. Lucy turned to Sam and gave a small wave. “Good talking with you, dude. Good luck with the fam.”

“Thanks. You too.”

Diane watched this exchange with a polite but puzzled smile, and Sam heard her asking Lucy as they walked away, “Dude?”

_Yeah, ‘dude,’_ Sam thought wryly. He wasn’t sure why, but his talk with Lucy made his heart lighter. He knew that he had some difficult conversations ahead with his family, but—he’d survived coming out as gay. He’d survive this. 


	6. To Dream

Flight has long been a dream of human beings. Probably the first hominid on the African plains who was able to form an abstract thought looked up at the birds and the sky and thought, “I want to do that.” 

Nowadays, of course, we can fly in airplanes. But sitting in a pressurized tube drinking warm cola while worrying about airborne pathogens and the cleanliness of the tray table is not the same as flying free as a bird. We still can’t just flap our wings and soar, unhindered, through the sky like a bird. 

Well, most of us can’t. But when you add magic into the picture, some things become more possible than others. I have what is probably a ridiculous number of friends who are able to fly, in one manner or another. Elliot and Grace can soar through the sky like superheroes. Justin’s and Ellen’s flying kicks sometimes seem more literal than most martial artists’. Nanase can levitate, though I’ve not seen her attain superhero kinds of altitudes. And she has one more pathway into the sky—she can project her consciousness into a diminutive copy of herself, a fairy doll, and fly. 

I have several fairy dolls that she made for me. Who all can fly, at my direction. Tedd had once theorized that I could, with practice, project my consciousness into my fairy dolls much as Nanase does. But to date, my spell book has remained annoyingly unhelpful on that topic, and despite several conversations on the topic with Nanase, I’ve not succeeded in so doing. 

But I really want to fly. 

It’s not a new desire, but it’s one I had mostly forgotten about it until I saw Nanase flying around in fairy doll form, her dragon-fly wings fluttering as she soared around me. And when Tedd offered the off-hand observation that I might be able to do the same, that desire re-awoke within me. The desire to be able to soar above every one else, untouchable and free. 

All of which probably went to explain why I was dreaming about being in fairy doll form and flying around my yard. I had just fallen asleep, after another frustrating hour of guided mental imagery that Nanase had recommended to try and assume full control of one of my fairy dolls. In my dream, I had been successful—I had _become_ a fairy doll, soaring and looping around the yard. 

_But I’m not seeing anything I can’t see from the third-story window_ , whispered an annoying little voice in the back of my mind. I wasn’t truly seeing any of the new vistas that I might see while soaring free. That’s one of the disadvantages to lucid dreaming—you can tell when your dream is falling short of reality. 

I didn’t have lucid dreams all that often, but perhaps the mental exercises I’d done before bed had facilitated this result. With a sigh, I decided to try and make the most of this unusual experience. I landed on the stump in the back corner of the yard, and sat with my feet dangling over the edge for a moment as I considered my options. Perhaps a review of what Nanase had told me would help? Maybe my dreaming self could make some mental connections that my waking mind was missing, or resisting, for whatever reason. I closed my eyes, then told myself that when I opened them, Nanase’s fairy doll would be sitting next to me. 

I was slightly surprised when I opened my eyes to find that she was there. I hadn’t played around much with the malleable reality of lucid dreaming, so being able to restructure my current reality just by thought was rather nice. 

The fairy doll looked over at me, a slightly startled look on her face. “Susan? Why are you in my dream?” 

I snorted. “That’s my line. You’re my imaginary version of Nanase, here to help me out.” 

The fairy doll recoiled a little. “What? No.” 

I frowned. Apparently my control over my virtual reality wasn’t as good as I’d thought. I decided to ignore the weird reactions and get to the point. “Listen, I want you to go over the instructions you gave me for inhabiting a fairy doll so I—” 

She slid forward off the edge of the stump, and took flight before she could hit the ground. 

“What the frak?” I stared after her, as she flew in a quick circuit around the dream version of my backyard. 

She came back and hovered before me. “You have a pool in your back yard?” 

“What? Of course. Why are you asking?” She was my figment, she should know everything I know. Then I shook my head. This was ridiculous. I was arguing with a part of my own subconscious. I closed my eyes, and imagined Nanase gone. I’d find some other way to work on this fairy doll problem without interference from myself. 

When I opened my eyes, she was still there. “Nuts. Am I no longer in control of my dream?” Then I shook my head. “No, the fact that I can even _ask_ that question means I’m still lucid dreaming. Why didn’t you go away?” 

“Because I don’t want to?” she said. “Are you really Susan?” 

“What does that mean?” 

“I’m really Nanase.” 

I stared at the doll hovering before me. She looked and sounded like Nanase, but so what? She was formed from my memories of Nanase. 

“Susan…I think we’re in each other’s dreams.” 

“What?” Was this really Nanase, and not my imaginary version of her? “How?” 

She shrugged, and gave a wry smile. “Magic?” 

I rolled my eyes. “Well, yeah. But how can I be sure you’re not a figment of my imagination, albeit a very contrary one?” 

She looked thoughtful for a moment. “I can’t think of a way to prove it to you. I mean, I could tell you something you don’t know about me, but you wouldn’t be able to confirm it until we wake up.” 

“Hmm.” 

“Do you want to go somewhere more comfortable while we figure this out?” 

I shot her a puzzled look. “Like where?” 

“Let’s see if I can affect things in your dreamscape.” She closed her eyes for a moment, still hovering in place in front of me. She opened them again and looked down. “Hah. Success. Come on.” 

“Where?” 

“Here.” She flew down to the ground below my feet, among the roots of the stump. Something looked odd about the stump in front of her. I copied her maneuver of sliding off the edge of the stump and taking flight for just the second it took to reach the ground. 

There was now a door set into the bark of the stump, and a couple of little windows beside the door. Nanase grinned, opened the door, and bowed to me. “Will you walk into my parlor?” 

“Said a spider to a fly,” I muttered. “That’s not exactly encouraging me to trust you, you know.” 

Nanase laughed. “We’re dreaming. What’s the worst that can happen? You wake up?” 

I grimaced. “I don’t know. If magic is involved, might there be real world consequences to lucid dreaming?” 

Nanase sobered. “Oh. I hadn’t thought of that.” She looked thoughtful for a moment, then said, “I was just being silly, not trying to lure you to your death with flattery and deceit.” 

“Well…either you’re really Nanase, in which case I trust you, or you’re a figment of my imagination, and I’m much more masochistic than I ever realized.” 

Nanase laughed. “The former, I assure you.” 

“I sure hope so. Otherwise I’ll need extra therapy time next week to deal with all the implications.” I sighed, and stepped through the door. 

Inside was a cozy space, furnished with what looked like dollhouse furniture, all the proportions slightly off. A huge spool of thread with a coaster on top of it served as a coffee table in the middle of the room, and several artworks that looked like Sarah’s work adorned the walls. “Nice,” I said admiringly. 

“Hrm. I was going for more of a _Borrower’s_ aesthetic, but I couldn’t think of how to make comfy chairs with found objects. Hence the dollhouse couches.” 

I walked over and sat down on a couch. My wings seemed to just know how to fold out of the way so that I could sit comfortably. 

“So…I’m pretty sure I didn’t think this up, which is another point in favor of the notion that you’re really Nanase.” 

“Glad to hear you believe in me,” she said drily. “Will you clap your hands now?” 

I laughed. “Sure, Tink.” I obliged, and after a moment, Nanase joined me in clapping, laughing with me. 

She dropped into another chair, her wings folded neatly behind her. “So…how do you think I ended up in your dream?” 

I told her about my efforts to project my consciousness into a fairy doll, and how I’d created what I thought was a copy of her to help me review her previous instructions. 

“Huh.” She stared off into the distance for a long moment. “I wonder…if I still retain some mental connection to the Susan dolls I created for you?” 

I shrugged. “That might be part of it. But I want to create my _own_ connection to Little Suze. Not to you.” 

She flashed me a smile. “Ellen will be relieved to hear that.” 

“Ha. Ha.” 

“Say, would you mind if I tried something?” 

“Besides redecorating my tree stump?” 

“Yeah. I’m just curious—may I touch you?” 

My initial reaction was to give her a quick and unequivocal “No.” But then I stopped to consider. This was my dream. And I’d long dreamed (heh) of being able to touch someone else without fear. I took a deep breath, and said, “Yes.” 

She reached out a hand towards me, and I clenched my teeth. She seemed to notice, because she paused with her hand a couple of inches from me. “Just do it,” I muttered. She continued her aborted motion, and laid her hand on my shoulder. 

And I felt…her hand. Nothing more. No fear, no revulsion. No desire to jump away from her. “Huh,” I said, surprised. I had hoped for something like that, but I guess I hadn’t really believed I could do it. Without thinking about it too much, I reached out my hand and laid it on her shoulder. It felt warm, and solid—even in fairy doll form, she retained her impressive martial artist’s physique. I ran a hesitant hand up and down her arm, marveling at my lack of reaction. I looked up from her arm, to see her looking at me with a small smile on her face. 

“Ah…do you think Ellen would mind if I tried giving you a hug?” 

Nanase laughed. “I don’t think she could object to what I do in my dreams.” 

“Even lucid dreams?” 

She held up a hand and wiggled it back and forth in a “so-so” gesture. “Well…maybe not so much. But in any event, hugging is fine. Just keep your clothes on.” 

I snorted. “I’m not going to stretch _that_ far.” 

“Mmm. Pity,” she murmured. 

_“What?”_

“Er. Nothing.” 

I was seriously reconsidering my desire to try a hug, but she was already standing up, and she pulled me up with her. She opened her arms, inviting a hug, but not pushing me into it. I sighed. “What the heck.” 

I gingerly wrapped my arms around her, and she returned the favor. It felt _wonderful_. I found myself clinging tighter to her, and I closed my eyes against the tears that were threatening to reveal the state of my emotions. She was solid, and present, and warm, oh so warm against me. I felt like I could just sink into that warmth forever… 

“Susan?” Nanase’s voice was faint for some reason. “Are you…” She sounded like she was drifting away into the distance. 

I opened my eyes, and realized I was in my bed, staring at the ceiling. “Shit.” The memory of Nanase in my arms was slowly fading away, and I desperately clung to the tactile memory, trying to hold onto it. To make it an objective, a goal, something to strive to reach in the waking world. 

Was any of that real? Or was it just a truly weird dream? 

I jumped as my phone rang. I grabbed it, and was unsurprised to see Nanase’s name on the screen. 

“Hello?” 

“Hey, Susan. That was a nice hug,” she said. 

I sank back into my pillow, and smiled up into the darkness. It had been real, or at least as real as dreams get. “Yeah,” I agreed. “It really was. Thanks.” 

She yawned. “I—umph—I wanna talk about this with you at some length…but maybe during the daylight hours?” 

I laughed. “Yeah. Sounds good. We’ll talk tomorrow.” 

“Great.” She stifled another yawn. “Thanks for letting me play in your yard.” 

“My pleasure. Good night.” 

“G’night.” 

I set my phone back down on the bedside table, and curled up on my side, hugging a pillow. Remembering what it had felt like to hug Nanase. If I could do that in dreams, then surely someday I could do that in real life. I smiled, and fell back to sleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With (additional) thanks to Zee McZed for letting Susan & Nanase play in the [tree stump house](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21365152).


	7. Diverse Amusements

Justin pulled into the parking lot of the amusement park, stopped the car, and groaned. “Finally. We’re here.” He rolled his head on his neck, then stretched his arms. Joints popped in a slightly disconcerting fashion, but Justin didn’t seem to mind.

Luke unbuckled his seatbelt, and said, “Okay, _now_ will you tell me why we drove five hours to Cedar Point, instead of just one hour to Six Flags? Is there some amazing rollercoaster here that you just _have_ to try?”

Justin grinned. “Nah. I mean, yeah, there are some amazing rollercoasters here, and I want to try them all, but remember, this is _your_ birthday present.”

“So you keep saying, but eight extra hours in the car is hardly a ‘present.’”

“Well, I wanted to be absolutely certain that we couldn’t bump into someone that you know.”

“And why is that? Are you ashamed to be seen in public with me?”

Justin leaned over and gave Luke a quick kiss. “You know that’s not true. And I said, someone that _you_ know. Or knows you.”

Luke sighed. “Justin, I love you dearly, but if you don’t stop being so mysterious about this, I’m hitch-hiking back home.”

Justin laughed. “All right. Time for the big reveal.” He reached into the back seat, and pulled his backpack to the front. Rummaging around in it, he pulled out a drumstick. Luke’s heart leapt a little at the sight.

“I assume that’s not _just_ a drumstick?”

“Nope. It’s got a copy spell.”

Luke frowned. “And…who, or what, are you copying?”

“Remember a few weeks back when we were talking about what kind of books we read as kids?”

Luke blinked. “Uh. Yah. What of it?”

“The one thing that really made your eyes light up was when you talked about stories of twins. And how when you were a kid you always dreamed of having a twin brother.”

Lukes eyes went wide as understanding dawned. “So…you’re…”

Justin did a quick three-sixty, checking to see if anyone was nearby that could see into his car. The coast being clear, he tapped the wand against Luke’s forehead, and murmured, “Replicato!”

His form shimmered and shrank, and suddenly there were two identically dressed Lukes sitting in the front seat of the car. “For today, I’m your brother,” Justin said with a grin. “What should be my name?”

Luke started to laugh. “You are a goofball.”

“Guilty as charged. Did you ever imagine a name for your twin?”

Luke blushed slightly. “Uh…”

“Come on, I promise I won’t laugh.”

“Er. Skye.”

Justin looked puzzled for a second then he burst out laughing, “As in, Luke and Skywalker?”

“You promised you wouldn’t laugh!”

Justin hid his mouth behind his hand. “Right. Sorry.” But a small giggle escaped anyway. Fortunately, Luke didn’t actually seem to be offended; he was grinning too.

“All right. Well, let’s go spend a fraternal day in the park. But since we’re going to be brothers, and not lovers, I want one last kiss to keep me happy for the day,” said Justin, leaning toward Luke.

Luke held up a hand. “Uh, sorry, but—no. Not when you look like _that._ ”

Justin pouted. “I happen to think you look very kissable.”

“Yeah, thanks, but no. Not really into the whole twincest thing.”

Justin’s ears turned slightly pink, and Luke looked startled. “Really?”

“Ah…well, it’s not like we’re _really_ brothers…” He trailed off at the expression on Luke’s face, and changed conversational course. “I plead the fifth. Come on, bro, let’s go play.”

Luke laughed. “Yeah. Let’s.”


End file.
